Going Through the Mill: Sites of Passage in Apuleius' Metamorphoses

Abstract:This paper aims to analyze four topographical elements featured in Apuleius' Metamorphoses: the marshes, the door, the seashore, and the mill. It will be argued that in their literary representations, these spots, familiar and ordinary as they are, turn out to be quite different than they appear, evoking feelings of the uncanny. They serve as the "sites of passage" as they enable transitions to other states, along with being central thematic lines of the novel. Examination of narrative strategy, as well as of intertextual allusions and ideological underpinnings of these locales, will allow a deeper understanding of Apuleius' work.